Alaska landtour hotels

[northernphoenix]

We are looking at the itinerary provided by HAL for our upcoming Cruise/landtour onboard the Statendam this August. The hotel in Anchorage is described as "generic". Has anyone any idea which hotel HAL might be using. the Westmark chain is being used for Fairbanks, Dawson and Whitehorse. The McKinley Chalet Resort is the accomodations advertised for Denali. I like to chart the hotel locations, in order to understand our vicinity to various restaurants, drugstores, shopping, etc. thanks

Marilyn

[shrimpboat123]

We stayed at the Westmark in Anchorage this past July on our CruiseTour. I believe HAL also uses the Hilton as well. It depends on how many people are on tours on any given day.

 

Be sure to check your itinerary when you get your edocs. It will tell you which hotels you are staying at.

[northernphoenix]

We stayed at the Westmark in Anchorage this past July on our CruiseTour. I believe HAL also uses the Hilton as well. It depends on how many people are on tours on any given day.

 

Be sure to check your itinerary when you get your edocs. It will tell you which hotels you are staying at.

 

Were you pleased with the accommodations, overall?

[jtl513]

The hotel in Anchorage is described as "generic". Has anyone any idea which hotel HAL might be using. the Westmark chain is being used...

Since Westmark is a subsidiary of HAL, I'm sure they would prefer to put everyone in the Anchorage one if possible, but overflow has to go somewhere. It's probably TBD at this point.

[Copper10-8]

We also stayed at the Westmark Anchorage on 5th Ave. Rooms were fine and the hotel is located right smack in the middle of downtown Took a walk into the surrounding areas upon arrival. Pickup is the next morning by buses that will take to you the Anchorage Railroad Depot on 1st Ave, only five blocks away

[shrimpboat123]

Were you pleased with the accommodations, overall?

 

Overall we were pleased with the accommodations. They weren't 5 star by any means. More like 3-4 star.

 

Highly recommend the Glacier Brewhouse restaurant in Anchorage. It's right across the street from the Westmark.

[northernphoenix]

Overall we were pleased with the accommodations. They weren't 5 star by any means. More like 3-4 star.

 

Highly recommend the Glacier Brewhouse restaurant in Anchorage. It's right across the street from the Westmark.

 

That will be my next question: we have decided to take a pass on the meal plans , and are curious about the availability of decent restaurants . We are in each city for two nights, and Denali for three. The arrival day will be anything close at hand, but the following dinners could be more adventuresome. Any references would be appreciated,

Marilyn

[Barrheadlass]

When we went a couple of years ago, we were in the Westmark in Fairbanks, the Hilton in Anchorage, and the McKinley etc in Denali...all were fine (Mckinley was least "nice") but all were convenient to restaurants...just be prepared for the higher prices...ie what is $5 at Subway here is $9. or $10 in Denali.

[shrimpboat123]

That will be my next question: we have decided to take a pass on the meal plans , and are curious about the availability of decent restaurants . We are in each city for two nights, and Denali for three. The arrival day will be anything close at hand, but the following dinners could be more adventuresome. Any references would be appreciated,

Marilyn

 

We didn't do the meal plan either. Each day as we arrived at our destination, our tour director handed us a sheet of paper with pertinent info on it. She would also mention places to eat that were handy to the hotel.

 

Not sure which cruise tour you are planning. You may have seen the trip report I posted on the HAL board. In case you didn't, it is posted here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1897694

 

I also looked up where each hotel was located and tried to figure out what eating establishments were close by. I used Trip Advisor to assist in the search.

[Shmoo here]

Westmark Whitehorse

 

Westmark Dawson City

 

Westmark Fairbanks

 

McKinley Chalets Denali

 

Hilton Anchorage (we were in the overflow group)

[Lady Chew]

We stayed in the same hotels pictured above, just this summer.

 

Our favorite was in Dawson City. The one is Whitehorse was fine, but a little the worse for wear. Same with the Hilton in Anchorage, and the McKilney Chalet in Denali. In fact, our last night in Denali there was a power outage that lasted for several hours. It really messed things up for a lot people, in terms of trying to bathe after a long, hot, dusty day ... no toilets either. We were told that is a not uncommon occurrence.

 

There were plenty of places to eat within walking distance of each hotel, a variety of types & prices. There were also drugstores & convenience stores, and in some cases, grocery stores. Anything we needed to purchase, no problem.

 

Fortunately there is a walk-in clinic across from the one in Fairbanks, with a pharmacy next door. I needed a doctor visit (sinus & ear infection), and had to pass on the excursion for the day. Mr Chew & our friends got to pan for gold, and they combined all of their gold and put it into a locket for me. That made it a nice remembrance for me.

[Shmoo here]

We stayed in the same hotels pictured above, just this summer.

 

Our favorite was in Dawson City. The one is Whitehorse was fine, but a little the worse for wear. Same with the Hilton in Anchorage, and the McKilney Chalet in Denali. In fact, our last night in Denali there was a power outage that lasted for several hours. It really messed things up for a lot people, in terms of trying to bathe after a long, hot, dusty day ... no toilets either. We were told that is a not uncommon occurrence.

 

There were plenty of places to eat within walking distance of each hotel, a variety of types & prices. There were also drugstores & convenience stores, and in some cases, grocery stores. Anything we needed to purchase, no problem.

 

Fortunately there is a walk-in clinic across from the one in Fairbanks, with a pharmacy next door. I needed a doctor visit (sinus & ear infection), and had to pass on the excursion for the day. Mr Chew & our friends got to pan for gold, and they combined all of their gold and put it into a locket for me. That made it a nice remembrance for me.

 

[Koali]

We stayed at the Westmark in Anchorage and McKinley Chalet in Denali. The Westmark was okay nothing fancy. I second the Glacier Brewhouse in Anchorage as well. Food was very tasty and the seafood tasted very fresh. There is also a famous hot dog stand a few blocks away near the visitor center where they sell reindeer hot dogs. The Chalet in Denali was not bad, you have a separate living room area and then the bedroom. I don't think there is any AC, but they give you a fan. We were there in May (with a freak snowstorm and 20 deg most days) and certainly did not need it. Since we were there the first week of the season, most restaurants weren't open so we had to eat at the hotel. Food is definitely pricey. Breakfast buffet was $20pp and it wasn't anything fabulous. Across the street are plenty of restaurants and gift shops.

[Aegis1984]

When I moved to Whitehorse in 2007, my company had me staying in the Westmark for two weeks while I found a place to live. It was nice enough, though it looked extremely dated in my opinion. It was well maintained, but you could tell it was an old building. The floors upstairs weren't exactly level, and creaked in the odd spot. You could tell there was history in the building.

 

The bar downstairs was fine for my own experience. Fish and chips were good, and Yukon Gold was the beer of choice, if I'm not mistaken. It is pretty centrally located, though the downtown area of Whitehorse isn't that big to begin with. It is only about two or three blocks away from Main St. And Whitehorse blocks aren't huge like in a major city either.

 

Piece of advice... Stay away from any bar that has a number for the name. Again, we're talking 7 years ago but the 98 and the 202 were not the best places to find yourself in during the evening hours, and truth be told, I've felt safer walking down East Hastings in Vancouver than being around those bars at night.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Aegis1984

[Krazy Kruizers]

A few years ago we also stayed at the Westmark in Anchorage before our HAL cruise. It was okay -- nothing to rave about.

And we have eaten a few times at the Glacier Brewhouse -- good food.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Best picture I could find of the Westmark in Anchorage

[hvsteve1]

So far as eating, we thought the fish and chips at a number of restaurants was to die for due to the fresh, local fish they used.

 

This doesn't apply to most people, but we were put up at the Hilton across from the railroad station and I loved it. I'm a big railroad buff and our room looked down on the Alaska Railroad Yards. I was up from dawn, which means half the night, videotaping all the train movements in the yard as they made up the freight and passenger trains for the day. It is still some of my most valued video. The room was OK and you will probably find the place full of folks embarking on various cruises and land tours so you might meet the same kind of interesting people in the hotel that you'll find on the ship.

[northernphoenix]

We have a question re: carryon luggage. We each carry a small backpack, but I have an electronics bag, that I can't leave with the rest of our luggage to be delivered at the end of day. Will there be a problem carrying this onto the train/plane/bus that we use for transportation?

[northernphoenix]

I have downloaded the menu from the Glacier Brewhouse and am quite certain that the variety of dinner options should satisfy all of us. The prices are comparable to restaurants that we frequent , so even tho, the prices in Alaska seem inflated to some, we are comfortable that the menu seems to be in line with our local dining establishments. Do we need to make reservations?

[northernphoenix]

We stayed at the Westmark in Anchorage and McKinley Chalet in Denali. The Westmark was okay nothing fancy. I second the Glacier Brewhouse in Anchorage as well. Food was very tasty and the seafood tasted very fresh. There is also a famous hot dog stand a few blocks away near the visitor center where they sell reindeer hot dogs. The Chalet in Denali was not bad, you have a separate living room area and then the bedroom. I don't think there is any AC, but they give you a fan. We were there in May (with a freak snowstorm and 20 deg most days) and certainly did not need it. Since we were there the first week of the season, most restaurants weren't open so we had to eat at the hotel. Food is definitely pricey. Breakfast buffet was $20pp and it wasn't anything fabulous. Across the street are plenty of restaurants and gift shops.

 

Would that hotdog stand be M.A.'s gourmet dogs???

[Koali]

When we went to Glacier Brewhouse on a Monday or Tuesday night it was packed and we had to sit at the bar, which was a sit yourself. I think the wait was around 20 mins for a table. I don't remember the name of the hot dog stand, but it's on the corner diagonally opposite from the log cabin visitor center.

 

Re your bags. On the train they ask that you only bring 1 bag that can fit underneath the seat in front of you like a plane. There is plenty of space over the seats to place your bag on the bus. Not sure about the plane.

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited January 17, 2014 by Koali

[Lady Chew]

Yup, Shmoo ... that's the clinic. I was so relieved it was right there!!